ABSTRACT
Jacob b. Asher (d. 1340), compiler of the Tur, prefaces the section of this Code which deals with jurisprudence, Hoshen Mishpat, with a statement on the importance of justice for the social order and the nature of the authority vested in the judges. As a summary of the forms and attitudes which prevailed in the middle ages, influencing Jewish life in subsequent ages down to the present, this statement is important for a study of traditional Jewish legal philosophy. The section is here translated into English for the first time (the words in parenthesis, including the source references, are explanatory and are not in the original). The translation is followed by annotations.
